Refrigerator constructions



Jan. 15, 1957 E. M. GAUL REFRIGERATOR CONSTRUCTIONS Filed Sept M M W EDWARD W GAUL ATTORNEY United States Patent "REFRIGERATDR CONSTRUCTIONS Edward M. Gaul, Evansville,-Ind.,:assignor, by mesne assignments, to Whirlpool-Seeger Corporation, a corporation of Delaware Application September 14, 1953, Serial 'No.379,76.7

3 Claims. (Cl. 220-15) This invention relates generally to refrigerator constructions, and more specifically to an improved breaker strip construction for a-refri'gerator cabinet.

As is well known inl'the art, refrigerator breaker strip constructions require that means he provided for effectively and 'efli'ciently covering "the space between the marginal edges of the inner and outer-liners of a refrigerator cabinet. These means mustbe such as to prevent any substantial conduction of heat'fr'om the outer liner, through "the means, to the inner liner of the refrigerator cabinet. Further, these means .shou'l'dbe'formed so as to present a pleasing appearance to-the refrigerator cabinet, and additionally, these means should be as simple to install and remove, and as economical, as possible.

It 'is the object of this invention toprovide .a breaker strip 'construction'which' fulfill .all of the above noted requirements in an eflicientjmanner.

It is a'feature of this invention that a plurality of novel spring clips are used in cooperation with a particular breaker strip to maintain .that breaker strip mounted'to a particular refrigerator cabinet.

Other objects .and features of the present invention will be apparent upon perusal of the following specification anddrawing of which:

Figure l 'is a'front plan view of ,a refrigerator cabinet constructedaccordingto this invention;

Figure 2 'is a partial cross-sectional view of the refrigeratorcabinet sliown inFig'tire 1 and taken along the'li'ne 2 2.

The present embodiment is the preferred embodiment, but it is .to be understood that changes can be made in the present enibodimentb'y one skilled .in the art Without departingfrom the spirit and scope of this-invention.

:For a detailed description of this invention reference 'isr'nade'to the drawing. .A refrigerator cabinet is'provided whichisgenerally constructedas any refrigerator cabinet Well-known in the art. Wherein .the structureof'the re- 'frigerator cabinet-particularly departs from the structure well-known in the art, will be noted in detail below. As to the details ofthe general constructionof the'refriger'ator cabinet, an outer .liner 10, an inner iliner 11, and arefr'ig'erator door 12 are provided. The inner liner J1 is'disposed within the outer liner and is spaced some distance therefrom. Insulation 13 eis..positioned between the inner liner 11 and the outer liner .10 to ,prevent the conduction of heat from the outer "liner to theinner liner 11. The -o11ter marginal edges of .the .outer liner 10 and ithe'in'ner lin'er 11 are formed .to have .a particular configuration which will be .defined .in .detail below. Further, :a inachine'ry compartment 14 .is generally provided the '-lewer.;portion of .the.outer liner 10 -and below -'the inner liner 11. The refrigerator door 12 is pivotally mounted by means of the hinge structures 15 to the outer liner 10 along one vertical edge thereof. The refrigerator door 12 comprises an outer panel 16 and an inner panel 17. The outer panel 16 has a rolled edge extending about the outer marginal edges thereof as can be seen in Figure 2. The inner panel 17 is mounted to cooperate with 2 the'outer panel '16 by means of the gasket and mounting means '18. The space between the inner panel 17 and the outer panel 16 of the refrigerator door 121s :filled with an insulating material '19, as is well-known in the art. Any door latching means 20 is further provided (and mounted to the refrigerator door 12 for cooperationwith the refrigerator cabinet to permit latching and unlatching of the refrigerator door 12.

Turning next to'a detailed'description of the breaker "strip construction, the outer marginal edges .of thefouter liner '10 are formed to have a rolled section, such as a yoder rolled section, whereby a substantially 'F-shaped flange is formed thereon when viewed in cross section'as can easily be seen in'Fig'ure 2. The'F-'shaped'flange'comprises an outer leg 21 and an inner leg 22. This construction will form a substantially Ll-shaped channel about the marginal edges of the 'outerlinerlli and above the machinery compartment'l l.

The 'outer marginal edges of the inner liner 11 .are formed to .Iprovide an outwardly extending flange 23 which may easily be seen .in cross section in Figure 2. The fla'nge 23 on the inner liner '11 is so formed as to lie substantially in the plane including the inner leg 22 ofthe .F-shapedflange of the outer liner 10.

To structurally strengthen the refrigerator cabinet and to maintain the insulation 13 properly'packed between the outer liner 10 and the inner liner 11, if the insulation 13 is not of a rigid type, a picture frame panel 24 is provided. The picture framepanel 24 must be ,formed'of a material'having the property of low heat conductivity and 'go'od'strength. Panel 24may be formed of some material-such as'rnaso'nite. 'The'inner and outermarginal edges of 'the'panel 24 are respectively fastened to the flange 23 and the inner leg 22 of'fthe F-shaped fiangepf 'theiouter liner 10. Any mounting means 25 well-known to the art may be used to fasten the inner edge of the panel 24 to the flange 23 of the inner liner '11. ,It isprefe'rred that the .outermarginal edge of'the panel 2410c fastenedto the :inner leg 22 of the F-shaped flange'o'f .the outer liner '10 by some means such as shown inFigureZ. This means comprises a plurality .of fasteners, suchas the fastener .26 show'n'in Figure 2, and a plurality of straps, such as the strap 27 shown in Figure 2. Each strap 27 and'each fastener 26 are connected together through'an opening provided through the panel '24, andeach of the straps 27 is so positioned that the .innerleg22of the F- shaped flange of the outer liner 10 is sandwiched between a portion .of the strap 27 and the ,panel 24,, ,as can be seen'in Figure '2. Each of the fasteners 26 and straps 27 are positioned in a spaced apart relation about the panel 24 to rigidly fasten the entire outer-edge of thepanel :24 to .the inner leg 22 of the F-shaped flange of .the outer tions of the Ebreaker strip .28 are positioned about lthe space :between the marginaliedges of the outer liner '10 and the inner liner The dour sectionsof the bre'aker strip 28 :may #be :joinedat *the ends thereof by any fj'oin ing means 29 well known in art. The breaker strip 28 is somewhat U-shaped when viewed in a transverse cross section such as seen in (Figure 2. One edge of the breaker strip 28 is positioned between the outer leg 21 and the inner leg 22 of the F-shaped flange of the outer liner 10, as can easily be seen in Figure 2. The other longitudinal edge of the breaker strip 28 is posi tioned to abut the outer surface of the flange 23 of the inner liner 11.

To properly maintain the breaker strip 28 in the aforedescribed position, andfurther, to permit easy removal of breaker strip 28 should access be desired to the space between the inner liner 11 and the outer liner 10, a plurality of spring clips, such as the spring clips 30 shown in Figures 1 and 2, are provided. Each of the spring clips 30 are formed of a material such as spring steel and are fashioned to be substantially G-shaped as can be seen in Figure 2. Each of the spring clips 3% is positioned within the U-shaped channel formed by the v F-shaped flange of the outer liner and in a spaced of these spring clips 30 is positioned as described above,

each spring clip 30 is biased against the panel 24 at the point 3% and against the inner surface of the outer leg 21 of the F-shaped flange of the outer liner 10 at the point 300. it is believed that this bias is stored within the portion 30d of the spring clip 30 when the spring clip 30 is projected into the U-shaped channel of the F-shaped flange of the outer liner 10. Further, when each of the spring clips 30 are positioned as described above, the portion 30a of each spring clip 30 is biased to grasp the longitudinal edge of the breaker strip 28. Each of the spring clips 30 are further biased about the point 300 to tend to rotate the breaker strip 28 in a counterclockwise direction about the point 31 as viewed in Figure 2.

Thus it may be seen that to remove any one of the four sections of the breaker strip 28 from the above described cooperation with the refrigerator cabinet, it is only necessary to draw the longitudinal edge of the breaker strip 28 and each one of the spring clips 30 mounted thereon from the U-shaped channel of the F-shaped flange of the outer liner 10. It can also be seen, that to properly mount any section of the breaker strip 28 in proper cooperation with the refrigerator cabinet, it is merely necessary to mount a plurality of spring clips 30 in a spaced apart relationship along the one longitudinal edge of the breaker strip 28, with the portions 30a of each of the spring clips 30 grasping that longitudinal edge of the breaker strip 28, and further,

, biasing each of the spring clips 30 and positioning the breaker strip 28 by projecting that longitudinal edge of the breaker strip 28 within the U-shaped channel of the F-shaped flange of the outer liner 10.

Having described the invention what is considered new and desired to be protected by Letters Patent is:

1. A breaker strip assembly for household refrigerators comprising an outer shell provided with a door opening at its forward end, said door opening being bordered by an inwardly open flange arrangement having a rectangular groove therein, a liner in said shell and having an outwardly turned flange located backwardly of the front of said shell, insulation between said liner and shell, and insulating means for supporting said liner from said shell, said flange arrangement including a face flange on the shell outwardly of said groove, a breaker strip comprising a member of uniform crosssection having a body adapted to traverse the space between the grooved shell and liner, said body having an inwardly extending flange on its inner side, said flange having its edge engaging the outwardly turned flange on the liner, said body also engaging behind said face flange and having an inwardly turned edge flange in said groove and a plurality of spring clips engaging over said edge,

t 4 V g each spring clip having a U-shaped formation which clamps said edge and an integral c-shaped formation which is compressed between the rear of the face flange and said insulating means and tending to retain said breaker strip in said groove.

2. A breaker strip assembly for household refrigerators comprising an outer shell provided with a door opening at its forward end, said door opening being bordered by an inwardly open flange arrangement having a rectangular groove therein, a liner in said shell and having an outwardly turned flange located backwardly of the front of said shell, insulation between said liner and shell, and insulating means for supporting said liner from said shell, said flange arrangement including a face flange on the shell outwardly of said groove, a breaker strip comprising a member of uniform cross-section having a body adapted to traverse the space between the grooved shell and liner, said body having an inwardly extending flange on its inner side, said flange having its edge engaging the outwardly turned flange on the liner, said body also engaging behind said face flange and having an inwardly turned side flange in said groove and a plurality of spring clips engaging over said edge, each spring clip having a U-shaped formation which clamps said edge and an integral C-shaped formation which is compressed between the rear of the face flange and said insulating means and tending to retain said breaker strip in said groove, said C-shaped formation also having its U-shaped formation so located that it draws said edge toward the rear of said face flange exerting a pivotal action at the engagement of the body and rear of the face flange which holds the other end of the breaker strip in engagement with the liner flange.

3. A breaker strip assembly for household refrigerators comprising an outer shell provided with a door opening at its forward end, said door opening being bordered by an inwardly open flange arrangement having a rectangular groove therein, a liner in said shell and having an outwardly turned flange located backwardly of the front of said shell, insulation between said liner and shell, and insulating means for supporting said liner from said shell, said flange arrangement including a face flange on the shell outwardly of said groove, a breaker strip comprising a member of uniform crosssection having a body adapted to traverse the space between the grooved shell and liner, said body having an inwardly extending flange on its inner side, said flange having its edge engaging the outwardly turned flange on the liner, said body also engaging behind said face flange and having an inwardly turned edge flange in said groove and a plurality of spring clips engaging over said edge, each spring clip having a U-shaped formation which clamps said edge and an integral C-shaped formation which is compressed between the rear of the face flange and said insulating means and tending to retain said breaker strip in said groove, the said insulating means comprising an integral frame of rigid insulating material secured to said shell and to said liner for closing the space in front of the insulation and elfecting a rigid support of the liner.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,504,986 Kost Apr. 25, 1950 2,581,692 Morton et a1. Jan. 8, 1952 2,587,922 'Sulcek Mar. 4, 1952 2,675,687 'Philipp Apr. 20, 1954 2,676,727 Jacobs et al Apr. 27, 1954 

